Thinking Of You
by ILuvZaccy55
Summary: Song-fic. There's trouble in paradise for East High's favorite couple- Troy Bolton and Gabrielle Montez. After the worst is over Gabriella turns to the only person she has left. Is that the right choice? Or will she regret it all? Eventual 3-shot.
1. Part One

**Okay so I know I've kinda been missing in action, and not updating either of my stories. I've got the SATs this weekend, so I've been really busy studying for that but other than that, I really don't have any other good excuse. I guess I've just had a bad case of writers block. I have like half a chapter for On The Line so I should be able to finish that up soon, and I really need to and want to start the next chapter of Catch Me When I Fall. So I'm hoping that once I finish OTL's chapter I'll start on that. But this is just something I've been working on to get over my writer's block. It will hopefully end up being a 3-shot, I don't really want to make it into a whole new story but, its based on Katy Perry's song _Thinking Of You._ The lyrics will be throughout all of the chapters and the story will of course go along with them. (At least I hope it will lol) So anyway here's the first part of the story. I hope you all like it, and as always reviews would be AMAZING. Ilove reading them; both the good and the bad so, feel free to leave whatever. I'm totally open to constructive criticism. Anyways I'll end this novel I ended up writing and get on to the story, enjoy and REVIEW!**

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**Comparisons are easily done,  
once you've had a taste of perfection. **

**Like an apple hanging from a tree,** **I pick the ripest one, I still got the seed.**

Thick, dull, gray clouds covered the sky over Albuquerque, New Mexico, and cold, hard rain poured from them, which was something that rarely happened. Weather like this caused most if not all people to stay dry inside, and this time it was no different. It was almost like no one lived here, the stores were empty and the streets were bare. Anyone in his or her right mind was inside staying warm and dry, well all but one person. And that one person was me, Gabriella Montez. I normally hate the rain, thunderstorms especially, because they always make everything lifeless and dreary. The only reason I was out walking in, what could quite possibly be the worst storm in years, was because I felt as dull and lifeless as the storm was. Normally during storms like this I was safe and secure in my house being comforted by none other than _the _Troy Bolton. But not this time, no, see he was the real reason why I was marching through the mud and ankle-high puddles. He was the reason why I felt completely empty inside and the reason why my life was crashing all around me. There were only two people I knew I could rely on at a time like this and they were Taylor McKessie and Ryan Evans. But unfortunately for me, neither of them were answering their phones. After finding out that Taylor was visiting her grandparents for the weekend, I knew all I could do was walk and walk until I reached the mansion-sized home of the Evans'. By the time I actually made it to their house and passed through the gated driveway and up the long and perfectly groomed front lawn, I was completely soaked from head to toe. All I could hope for was that Sharpay wouldn't answer the door. The last thing I needed was her opinion. And thankfully one thing went right for me, not only did someone else answer the door, it was the exact person I wanted to see.

"Gabriella? What are you doing? Its like the perfect storm out here!" Ryan said, somewhat in shock. "I didn't do anything." Was all I could come up with to say, and I repeated it over and over again until a fresh batch of tears started flowing from my eyes.

"Gab, are you crying?" He asked quietly, as another round of thunder and lightning roared throughout the sky. "Come on, get in here. You have got to be freezing." He said as he pulled my shaking body into the house and out of the storm.

"Here take these." Ryan said as he wrapped a large towel around me and handed me a pair of pink sweatpants and a white tank top. "Just don't tell Sharpay I borrowed them from her." He laughed slightly, obviously trying to get some sort of reaction out of me, but it didn't work, and nothing would.

After I changed into the set of dry clothes, I found my way back into the living room, where Ryan was on the couch on his cell phone. "No screw you Bolton! I swear if I find out you did something to her I will kill you myself!" he yelled, slamming his cell phone shut and throwing it across the room. He ran his hands through his light blonde hair and growled in frustration before looking up and saw me practically hiding in the corner.

"I'm sorry Gabby, come over and sit. You still look pretty cold." He said softer and I slowly made my way over to the couch and sat down next to him. He covered me with a blanket and then wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. "There, now can you please tell me why you ended up on my door step, drenched and crying?"

"Do you have ten years to listen to it all?" I asked quietly, almost in a whisper. I was surprised Ryan even heard it. "I've got all the time in the world. Don't worry about me. Just tell me what's up, so I can help." And that's when the thoughts of the days events came rushing back. I wiped a stray tear off my cheek and took a deep breath; it was going to be a hard story to tell.

_**Earlier that day.**_

"_Gabriella, we really need to talk." Troy said after the two finished their lunch. "Alright what about?" Gabriella asked cautiously, she knew something was wrong. _

"_About you and Ryan." Troy mumbled, as he stared down at the floor. "Yeah what about us?" Gabriella asked, still not sure where this whole conversation was going._

"_Look I've been hearing stuff around school, and now I'm starting to realize it myself. Ryan obviously likes you and you both do hang out a lot. Almost as much if not a little more than we do…" _

"_That's not true Troy! And you know Ryan is one of my best friends! Since when am I not allowed to hang out with him? I mean what are you trying to say?" Gabriella said, her voice elevating more and more._

"_I don't know, I'm just sick of seeing you hanging out with Evans all the time. I know there's something between you two and I don't want to be in the middle of it. The whole damn school sees it, you guys laughing and hugging every chance you get. Extra dance practice during the musicals, I mean come on Gabriella did you really think anyone, especially me, would believe that you both were just rehearsing?" Troy yelled, as he got up and started pacing back and forth. _

"_Yeah I did think that! Cause that's all that happened! Damn it Troy, Ryan and me are just friends! Why can't you just accept that?" Gabriella screeched, as tears started to pool in her eyes, she did not like where this was going. "I can't accept that because I know it's more than that. You can tell just by the way you guys look at each other! And I can't deal with it anymore. I'm done Gabriella, I'm sick of being the third wheel to you. It's over." Troy said, trying his best not to get anymore angry. _

"_What do you mean?" Gabriella whispered. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I mean its over between us. I think we both know who you want to be with, so go ahead and forget about me and move on to Evans." Troy said a bit softer as he turned around and made his way out of Gabriella's house, leaving her broken and crying in her kitchen. _

**You said move on  
where do I go?  
I guess second best is all I will know.**

I knew telling that story was a bad idea, by the time I finished going through every detail, I was a sobbing, shaking mess. Ryan hadn't said anything the whole time; he just nodded and rubbed my back, obviously trying to help me feel better. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was holding back so much anger. I knew he wanted to find Troy and strangle him for making me feel this way. "I'm so sorry Gabby. I know that might not mean much, but I really am." He said softly and hugged me quick. I nodded and looked up at him, with tears still escaping from my eyes, "No it does. It means a lot, trust me." I whispered as Ryan wiped more of my tears away. I never realized how much of a hold Troy had on me. I literally couldn't function properly and it was all because of him. And I guess I never realized how much of a friend Ryan was. He was doing more for me than I ever could have expected and all I could do was hope that he knew I was thankful for that.

"I guess this is what I get for not listening to you when we became friends last year huh?" I mumbled into his shirt, trying to control my sobbing. "What do you mean?"

"Remember you told me to watch out for Tr…" And that's all I could say. It was basically impossible for me to say his name. It hurt too much and I didn't think I could myself though any more pain, I was in enough already. "Troy?" Ryan finished for me, and I just nodded slightly. "Yeah I do remember that. But its not your fault, Bolton has always been like this. I'm surprised you guys lasted this long." Ryan said coolly. I could feel all of his muscles tightening as he talked about Troy. This was something Ryan wasn't going to let go any time soon.

"I guess I should be too then, right?" I asked quietly, wiping the remaining tears away and sighing. "I think so. Look Troy has never been one for relationships. He might seem like the nicest guy out there but I wouldn't believe that all the time." Ryan said as I sat up and pulled away from him. I knew Ryan was probably right, but I just couldn't let myself believe that. Troy had been an amazing boyfriend; this was the first and obviously last fight we ever had. I just didn't want to believe that the Troy Bolton I knew was actually an ass. Ryan looked over at me and must have known that he had hit a sore spot so he gave me an apologetic smile and stood up.

"Why don't I take you home and get you settled in?" He offered, but I stayed still, there was no way I could go back to my house, it was just too soon. "Ry, is there anyway I could stay here tonight? My mom is out of town again, and I don't want to stay alone during this storm. Please?" I practically begged and with a small smiled Ryan caved. "Of course Ella, you can stay as long as you'd like." Ryan's answer was like a slap in the face to me. He called me the one of the few nicknames that only Troy was allowed to call me. Right when that word left his mouth, my heart sunk and a new wave of tears formed, causing me to get upset all over again.

"Ella, what's wrong?" Ryan asked in a confused and concerned voice. "Don't call me Ella." I whispered in an inaudible voice. Ryan leaned in to try and hear it but it was no use. "What?" He asked a bit louder, probably trying to get me to speak up. "Don't call me Ella." I whispered again, trying to be louder, but it didn't work, it hurt too much. "I'm sorry Gabby I have no idea what you're saying."

"I said don't call me Ella!" I screeched, pulling my legs up to my chest and curling into a ball. "You know that's Troy's nickname!" I cried out once I felt his arms wrap around me. "I'm sorry Gabby, I forgot, honestly I did. Calm down, it will never happen again, I promise." Ryan said, trying to get me to relax and calm down. After a few minutes my breathing returned to normal, and the tears stopped falling. Ryan used this opportunity to help me up the stairs and into one of the many guest rooms in his house.

"Here, just lay down and get some sleep. You need it. My room is right next door, so you know where to find me." He said as I laid down and he pulled the blanket over me. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, _just like Troy used too…_

"Ryan…" I said softly before he left. "Yeah Gabby?" he asked, turning around and looking over at me. "Is it wrong for me to still love him?" I whispered, as Ryan's smile faded and the look of sympathy washed over his face. "No, not at all Gabriella. It's perfectly normal."

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**Alright, well that was the first part, I hope you all like it, and part two should be up very soon! And as always, don't forget to review, it only takes a second.**


	2. Part Two

**Sorry for the kinda long gap between updates, I was on break and then busy with school, but I finally found some time to finish this chapter. I hope everyone liked the first part, and hopefully this chapter too. I think this may go longer than 3 parts but I'm not sure yet, so hang in there. And REVIEWS would be great, I think I only got one last time, which is fine but the more feedback I get the more I want to write, so REVIEW. And now onto part 2.**

**Cause when I'm with him I'm thinking of you.  
Thinking of you.  
What you would do if  
you were the one who was spending the night.  
I wish that I was looking into your eyes.**

Sleeping was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I hoped that I would just pass out from exhaustion but unfortunately that didn't happen, because the storm just kept getting worse. Kind of like how my day did. It started out like any other day, and then out of nowhere everything just came falling down. Now normally on nights like this, I was safe and secure in _his_ arms but not tonight, no this time I was alone. After a couple of hours of tossing and turning, and thunder roaring every few minutes, I finally decided to try the next best thing. I pulled myself to the edge of the bed and got up as quietly as I could. I quickly made my way to the door when another round of thunder arrived and I jumped a bit before tiptoeing into the hallway and into the room next door. The room was just as unique as its owner. The walls were a deep shade of red and were covered with Broadway Musical posters, scripts and awards and of course pictures of the owner himself in plays and musicals that he had starred in. Yeah, anyone would know that this room was Ryan's, even in the dark. I quietly made my way over to his huge bed and looked down to see him sleeping peacefully and snoring softly. Just like Troy did…

"Ryan." I whispered as I poked him gently, trying to wake him up as quickly as I could. "Ryan wake up." After a few minutes of no response and the thunder getting louder, I shook him and he finally stirred awake. "Gabriella? What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep." I said softly, just as another flash of lighting lit up the sky, and I jumped a bit. "Why? Cause of the rain?" Ryan asked as he sat up a bit and rubbed his eyes. All I did was nod slightly and cross my arms over my chest, trying to keep my nerves down. "Gabs, its just a storm."

"Yeah but to me its not." I sighed and tried to fight back the tears that I could feel building. Even though Ryan was my best friend, and we told each other tons of things, he didn't know everything about me. And this was one of those things.

My fear of thunderstorms started when I was eight. I was home alone, my mom was working as usual, and my dad was out getting us dinner. There was a huge storm, one of the worst I had ever seen, and I begged my dad not to leave, since I had never been alone during a storm. But he promised he would be back and that everything would be fine, and I believed him since he never broke his promises. But unfortunately this was the one promise he did break. I spent the whole night alone and afraid of the storm, until I finally fell asleep sometime past midnight. The bad news came the next day when my mom woke me up in tears. She immediately pulled me into a hug and in the best way she could, she told me that the night before my dad had died in a car accident. Right then and there I knew my life would never be the same again. My dad had always been like my best friend. I could go to him with any problem and he would fix it with his famous "Super Secret Problem Solver" which was just ice cream and cookies, but still, it always made things better. But now he was gone and I knew I was never getting him back. Since that day I can barely make it through thunderstorms, they just remind me of the night I not only lost my dad, but my best friend in the whole world.

I understood that Ryan wouldn't know what to do or say, since I had never told him what happened to my dad, but I still wanted and needed him to do something. Troy was the only person who knew about my fear of thunderstorms, and he always knew what to do…

"Oh alright, well what would you like me to do?" Ryan asked as another round of thunder and lightning ripped through the sky and I jumped again. I looked at him and shrugged a bit, while he watched me shake nervously. "Well what did…umm…Troy do?"

I drew in a deep breath, as I thought about my answer, wondering if I should tell him what Troy did to help me. I knew it was something that only Troy could do perfectly, since it was his original idea, but I finally decided to just let Ryan try, it was worth a shot. "He…umm normally laid with me till I fell asleep."

I watched as Ryan's expression changed and his face practically lit up as the words left my mouth. I could tell that this was something he was more than willing to do for me, and at that moment I honestly didn't care. I just wanted to sleep and finally get this day over with. "Oh, well do you want to try that?" he said, his voice dripping with excitement. I knew he didn't want to come off as excited but it was pretty obvious that he was.

"Umm yeah, if you don't mind." I said quietly, and just as quick as I finished my sentence, Ryan was all ready moved over and he was patting the spot next to him. "Of course I don't mind. Come on, lay down." He said with a small smile on his face. I slowly made my way over to the bed, not wanting to really let go of the last connection I had to Troy. It was hard enough losing him but now I was letting Ryan use the one and only thing Troy did to make me feel better.

"There how's that?" Ryan asked softly as he pulled the blanket over me, once I had finally laid down. "Fine." I whispered, hoping to hide the fact that I was truly uncomfortable and wanting to back in _his _arms. "Good now get some sleep. You need it." Ryan said as I felt his arm gently wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him. I knew he was basically in heaven and I felt like I should have been too.

I deserved to feel better and I wasn't getting any help doing that from Troy. It was right then when I realized I had to take Troy's advice, and move on to second best. And that second best was right behind me, waiting patiently until I feel asleep, that second best was Ryan Evans.

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**So that was part 2 I hope you all liked it, I'm working on part 3 right now and hopefully that will be up soon!! Don't forget to REVIEW!**

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	3. Part Three

**Okay so as always I took forever to get another chapter up but its finally done. I have just had a really busy summer but I should be able to write more now that I don't have as much to do. So here's part three, and there's a lot to it, so I hope you all like it, (if I have any readers left haha). I am working on the next part as we speak so I won't make any promises like I always do but I hope it will be up soon. Anyways please leave a REVIEW, they always help so if possible leave one letting me know how I'm doing. So here's part three enjoy!!**

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**You're like an Indian summer in the middle of winter,  
like a hard candy with a surprise center.  
How do I get better once I've had the best? ****You said there's tons of fish in the waters,  
so the waters I will test.**

"_Troy I think we need to talk about what happened the other day." Gabriella said through gritted teeth. It had been 3 days since her fight with Troy and she finally conjured up enough courage to call him and set things straight._

"_No Gabriella we don't. I told you everything. There's nothing left to talk about."_

"_Troy how can you say that? You barely said anything before you stormed out. I want to know why you broke up with me!"_

"_I already told you that! It's cause of that little puppy dog Evans who's always following you around. He's crazy about you and you seem to be more into him than me. So I thought I was doing you guys a favor by leaving." Troy said trying to sound convincing. No matter how hard he tried to tell himself that he did the right thing, he couldn't help but wish he hadn't left a few days ago._

"_That's not true! How many times do I have to tell you that? I was and possibly still am in love with you and I don't understand why you don't believe me!" Gabriella screeched, feeling tears build in the back of her eyes. _

"_Look Gabriella, like I said before I don't want to talk about this. I think we're better off apart. You don't need me anymore. There's a ton of fish in the water so go find someone else, someone better. I think that's what's best for both of us." Troy said, regretting every single word as it left his mouth. _

"_But Troy…" Gabriella started to say but was interrupted by the sound of Troy hanging up. _

_It was then that she realized Troy really was over her and wasn't coming back. No matter how much it hurt her to admit she was going to take Troy's advice and move on. He was right, there were tons of fish in the water and she was going to test those waters. She couldn't let herself keep chasing after Troy when he wasn't chasing her back. She was officially ready to move on to hopefully bigger and better things. _

**-Three weeks later**

Oh school, lately it had been the only thing that kept me sane. Before this whole broken heart thing, I used to actually have a life. I didn't just come home and do homework and then sleep. It just seemed like ever since that day, I avoided everything that had to do with Troy, and unfortunately that meant I was avoiding all of my friends. Sure they all called and wanted to help me, but I just couldn't let them. Knowing that Troy could be with them at any given time, not only pissed me off but scared me, because I didn't think I could face him even if I tried. In school I did everything I possibly could to stay away from him. Obviously I saw him in homeroom, or in the hallway but I never made eye contact with him and I certainly never walked near him. It just hurt too much, and I knew if I looked at him just once, it would be like ripping my heart out all over again.

The only thing, or I guess I should say, someone who was helping me through all of this was the one and only Ryan Evans. From the moment he found me soaking wet on his doorstep he'd been there for me and honestly I don't think I would been able to move on at all if it wasn't for his help and advice. And speaking of advice, I had finally taken Troy's and moved on from him, right into Ryan's waiting arms. That's right, Ryan and me were officially an 'item', well more like officially to us but no one else we knew. Telling people we were a couple just scared me to death. It's not like I didn't want to, cause I did, I wanted Troy to know about it, I wanted him to feel alone. I wanted him to feel how I did. I wanted him to hurt. But at the same time I was afraid of what everyone would think. I knew I shouldn't care but I still did, I knew everyone would be staring and talking about us. It took literally three days of long talks from Ryan to finally convince me that it was time to let everyone know. We couldn't keep hiding it so today was the day. When I walk through the doors to East High, Troy and Gabriella will no longer exist and Ryan and Gabriella will take their place. All I hoped for was that this all was the right thing to do.

**---**

"Ry, I'm scared." I whispered, holding onto his hand so tight he must have lost feeling in it. There we were right in front of the front doors to East High, all of our friends and peers in there already, not one of them expecting what they were about to see. "Why Gabs? It's not like we're telling them we committed murder or something, we're just dating." Ryan laughed a bit, as he tried to squeeze my hand for comfort but I barely felt it cause I was holding on too tight.

"I know, I know but I mean what if they get mad or think we're crazy? What if they don't approve? I don't want them to hate us." I sighed, resting my head against his shoulder. "Gabriella that's not going to happen. They're our friends; they'll support us I promise. And even if they didn't so what? It's not important what they think. All that matters is how we feel." He smiled and kissed the top of my head, causing only a tiny smile to form on my face. No matter how bad I wanted to just completely let go and let Ryan have my whole entire heart, there was just a piece of me that couldn't let Troy go. And it was killing me, I felt like I was cheating on Ryan or something. I was totally happy with him on the outside and only partially on the inside, all because of Troy Bolton. I was constantly comparing him with Ryan and unintentionally picking a favorite. And what hurt the most was that at the moment Troy was winning, even though I didn't want him to, or least I thought I didn't.

"Yeah you're right. I just hope everything turns out okay." I sighed quietly, hoping Ryan wouldn't notice. "Everything will turn out fine, okay? Stop worrying." He smiled down at him and I finally loosened my grip on his hand. "Okay lets go now cause if I wait any longer I'll never go in." I smiled weakly as Ryan grabbed the door and let me in first. I slipped my fingers through his once again, and he squeezed gently, for support, as we headed into the crowded halls.

That's when it happened. That's when something I thought only occurred in movies, actually happened. Almost every single person in the wide foyer stopped whatever they were doing and looked over at us, all because of one person's gasp, or in this case, shriek. And that person was none other than the ice princess herself, Sharpay Evans. How Ryan and I were able to keep our little secret away from Sharpay was still a mystery to us, but somehow we pulled it off. But now, along with the majority of East High's population, she saw what we had been hiding.

"Excuse me! What is this?" her high-pitched voice echoed through the halls, causing anyone who hadn't seen at first turn around. "None of your business Shar, that's what it is." Ryan said calmly, as if none of this was bothering him. I, on the other hand was flipping out. I had a death grip on Ryan's hand and I'm pretty sure I was shaking violently. All of a sudden I felt myself being pulled through the crowd with Sharpay right behind me.

"No no, you two don't understand! I am so happy for you guys!" Sharpay squealed, her face beaming with excitement. Those two sentences cause not just me but Ryan also to stop dead in our tracks. "What?" I said softly and looked up; noticing Ryan had the same thought running though his head. "I said, I'm happy for you both. I always thought you two would be cute together. I was just waiting for the day this would finally happen." Sharpay said with a smile, which oddly made me grin too.

"Not so fast Sharpay. What's the catch?" Ryan said, finally breaking out of his trance. "There's no catch Ry. Gosh can't I just be happy for you two?"

"No you can't that's why I know something's up." He said getting a bit angry. I didn't understand why he was so upset. Sharpay was being so nice about all of this and that's exactly what I needed. He was just jumping to conclusions that had to be it. "Ryan stop it. Leave Sharpay alone." I interrupted. "Thank you for being so supportive Sharpay." I smiled and before I knew it she was hugging me. "Don't mention it Gabby." She giggled and let go of me. She smiled at me and scowled at Ryan before spinning on her heels and headed towards her bright pink locker.

"She's up to something Gabs. I know my sister." Ryan said as he slipped his hand into mine again. "Whatever you say Ry." I smiled a bit and rolled my eyes as we turned around and made our way to my locker. If we had just spent one more minute watching Sharpay we would have seen her walk right past her locker and straight to Troy's.

"Well babe the worst is over." Ryan smiled as we reached my locker and I leaned against it. "Yeah thankfully. I really thought I was going to die before homeroom." I laughed a bit as Ryan leaned closer and smiled. "Oh I could never let that happen." He said softly and then leaned in and kissed me. I pulled him closer and kissed him back, ignoring all of the people in the hallway. It was like we were the only ones there. That was until we heard someone clear their throat. We both pulled away and my jaw almost hit the floor.

"So this is what Sharpay wanted me to see." Troy said as he stood a few feet away from us, with a look of shock on his face. And that's when my whole world seem to crash and burn.

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**A/N: Well there's part three. I hope you all enjoyed it. There will definitely be a part four and possibly a part five since I didn't use as much of the song as I wanted to in this chapter. But as always leave a REVIEW and part four will be up soon!!**


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